The Department of Managed Health Care issued letters to seven insurance companies saying it had erroneously approved such language in policies "covering a very small fraction of California health plan enrollees."

The letter confirmed that the state constitution as well as "multiple California judicial decisions" prohibit such discrimination against women who choose to have abortions.

The controversial issue surfaced last year after administrations at Santa Clara University and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, both Jesuit schools, decided to drop health insurance coverage of elective abortions.

The decision led to uproar among staff and faculty at each institution.

The president of The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights immediately issued a statement Friday saying that Catholic universities "have a right and a duty to uphold the tenets of their faith in everything they do.

"Paying for abortions is in direct conflict with the teachings of the Catholic Church," Bill Donohue said in the statement.

"Not only is this decision morally obscene, it violates the religious liberties of Catholic institutions. The universities should now sue on First Amendment grounds. Perhaps a judge can educate the Brown administration on the need to keep church and state separate."